President Obama spent the latter half of Valentine's Day in California's parched San Joaquin Valley, linking the drought fueled in part by stringent environmental regulations on water delivery to climate change.

"The changing climate means drought, fire, storms, and floods will be costlier and harsher," Obama said while surveying a farm in Los Banos, accompanied by Gov. Jerry Brown, Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.).

The administration announced a series of actions anchored in the departments of Agriculture and Interior intended to combat the longstanding economic effects of the drought in the nation's breadbasket, including $5 million in additional assistance to California through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program that "helps farmers and ranchers implement conservation practices that conserve scarce water resources, reduce wind erosion on drought-impacted fields and improve livestock access to water" and $5 million in targeted Emergency Watershed Protection Program assistance to the most drought-impacted areas of California "to protect vulnerable soils."

The White House also announced that $60 million has been made available through the USDA's Emergency Food Assistance Program to food banks in California and 600 summer meal sites would be established in drought stricken areas. The USDA is "making $3 million in grants available to help rural communities that are experiencing a significant decline in the quality or quantity of drinking water due to the drought obtain or maintain water sources of sufficient quantity and quality."

At the San Luis Water District facility in Firebaugh, Calif., Obama said "this is going to be a very challenging situation for some time to come."

He refused to issue any guidance on the protection of species that have dragged water deliveries into court for many years. "I'm not gonna wade into this. I want to get out alive on Valentine's Day," the president said. "...We're going to have to figure out how to play a different game. We can't afford years of litigation and no real action."

The most notable part of his proposals is $1 billion he'll be calling for in his overdue budget for a Climate Resilience Fund.

"In addition to responding to the immediate drought in California, the President believes that we must do more to help communities across the country become more resilient to the effects of climate change. Recent events have reinforced our knowledge that our communities and economy remain vulnerable to extreme weather and natural hazards," the White House said. The funds would go toward research, local measures to mitigate climate change risk, and "breakthrough technologies and resilient infrastructure that will make us more resilient in the face of changing climate."

“To blame the California water crisis on global warming is ludicrous,” Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said. “The state has an incredible irrigation system designed to supply water through five years of drought. But as a result of excessive regulations and lawsuits by environmental extremists, we cannot fully use this system, and billions of gallons of water have been flushed into the ocean that could have supplied drought-stricken farmers and communities."

"Invoking global warming shows ignorance of California’s irrigation system and of basic math and engineering," Nunes added. "President Obama could have taken the lead in solving this crisis, but he is apparently more concerned with placating his radical environmentalist allies.”